It's just another day

[elfs]

I have sane voices and insane voices among the people I actually read in my friends list, and one of the better sane voices is vodou_chile, who today swore "Today, I will put aside partisan bickering."

That's probably a sane attitude, but I cannot share it. Never in my wildest imaginings would I believe that any administration would allow a murderer like Bin Laden to taunt his victims and survivors six years after his initial attack. No administration of any ideological bent would be so stupid, so mendacious, so calumnous, that it would allow Bin Laden to murder 3000 American citizens-- and yet let him continue breathing. No American President would be so petty as to have his imagination so fixated on surpassing his father's legacy and "finishing the job" that he would withdraw from the pursuit of Bin Laden to engage in a war of choice:

"Tenet told me he briefed the president personally," said one of the former CIA officers. According to Tenet, Bush's response was to call the information "the same old thing." Bush insisted it was simply what Saddam wanted him to think. "The president had no interest in the intelligence," said the CIA officer. The other officer said, "Bush didn't give a fuck about the intelligence. He had his mind made up."

No administration would be headed and empowered by a base so craven that it would rather throw away 4000 American soldiers' lives, destroy our international reputation, and bankrupt our children's futures, than admit it was wrong:

It was a Republican state party boss, Senator Boies Penrose of Pennsylvania, who early this century stated with notable candor the basic principle and purpose of present-day party politics. In the face of a powerful state and national resurgence of reform and the sentiments of the majority of the Republican rank and file, Penrose put up a losing slate of stand-pat party hacks. When a fellow Republican accused him of ruining the party, Penrose replied, "Yes, but I'll preside over the ruins."

This is the reason I write escapist stories; the real world is right now more disturbing and irrational than my wildest imaginings.

Comments

[tagryn]

But, I heard a lot of the same thing from conservatives and libertarians near the end of the Clinton administration, only then it was about Waco, the Clipper chip, Oklahoma City, the Communications Decency Act, Vince Foster, perjury, and so on. *They* were convinced the world was going to end if that administration went on for one more day, too.

I'm more and more of the opinion that it has something to do with things accumulating (and coming to light) as an administration nears the end of a second term, but what SirFox says in a separate comment makes sense, too.

Bin Laden: as I recall, the Oklahoma City bomber wasn't caught for over ten years, and he was hiding in North Carolina. So there is precedent for this, unfortunately.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

I think you mean the Olympic City Bomber. Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, was caught within a day of the bombing.

[tagryn]

Yes, you're right.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

The astonishing thing, to me, is that 25% of Americans remain convinced that if the policies of the current administration do not remain in place the world is going to end. (Wait, I thought that was a good thing in their mythology.)

And we didn't throw the might of the entire US Military to finding Eric Rudolph. We could have thrown it at Bin Laden. We should have. I could have backed a president who kept his thumb down on that button.